The Real Blogger Status

I've written about the simple procedure of transferring a blog from one Blogger account to another, and how simple it should be . Sometimes reality steps in - and the normal transfer procedure won't work. Maybe you don't want your EMail (GMail) address known by the current blog owner. Maybe the two EMail addresses are thoroughly tangled - you invite the second EMail address as a blog member but just don't get the email - even in "Bulk" or "Spam"! What to do? Maybe you opened the invitation email under one account, but were logged in to Blogger using the other account . This can happen if you execute the transfer, using just one browser . Sometimes, having ignored one or two basic (to me) rules of Blogger account existence , you just can't send a membership invitation to a second Blogger account.

As I've written in a few places, the name of your Blogger / Google account is based upon the email address that you provide, when you setup the account. The name of the account can't be changed, and neither can the email address for that account. When you want to manage your blog(s) from an account with a different email address, you must setup a new Blogger account , starting with the Settings - Permissions wizard . This isn't obvious to everybody.

In the "Western" world, and for the young of heart, there is one very special day of the year, celebrated by (almost) everybody - December 25, aka "Christmas" . While this was once (and still is now, for many) a religious holiday of great importance, for many young people it is important as a secular holiday - you get presents. For celebrants of both the religious and the secular versions of Christmas, this is a time of joy. But, there's a sadness here too. Not everybody that I know always gets everything that they would like to get, even for Christmas. The lack of unlimited funds makes Christmas a time of anguish and depression, for some people.

If you own a computer, and use it where there are other people - maybe in your home or office - you may setup your computer so certain files can only be read and / or updated by you. Maybe you decide just you and one other person - or you and a select number of other people - should share access. That's your decision, and one of the features of Windows Networking and similar file sharing protocols is the ability to have and to maintain private files and folders. Built in to Microsoft Windows, and other network operating systems (aka "NOS") , is the process of "authentication" and "authorisation" - that is, "Who are you?" and "Should you be doing this?". A major portion of any NOS does just that, constantly. There is no similar feature in the Internet, using HTTP (or HTTPS).

This week's announcement about the (lack of) future for FTP Publishing has started a shock wave of FUD and panic. Some folks in Blogger Help Forum: How Do I? may be panicking unnecessarily. Am I in trouble? Do I need to switch back to BlogSpot - and if I do, can I keep my dot com name - mydomain.com? In this case, we look at other clues in the question , and check out the domain . mydomain.com. 3600 IN A 216.239.32.21 mydomain.com. 3600 IN A 216.239.34.21 mydomain.com. 3600 IN A 216.239.36.21 mydomain.com. 3600 IN A 216.239.38.21 www.mydomain.com. 3600 IN CNAME ghs.google.com. That's a blog published to a custom domain , and that blogger has no need to worry. Custom domain publishing has offered an alternative to FTP publishing for a while - now, Blogger is exercising that alternative. So, should you worry? Look at the URL behind the "View Blog" link on the dashboard, and at the Settings - Publishing display. My blog "Nitecruzr New Template L...

All good things come to and end, and FTP Publishing is subject to this rule. Back in June 2008, I suggested that the option to publish Blogger blogs to non Google servers would not be available forever . FTP publishing has a limited life span. From an economic and support viewpoint, it makes more sense for Blogger to concentrate its attention on Custom Domain publishing. The future, for Blogger publishing, has arrived. From Blogger Buzz: Important Note to FTP Users we see: In evaluating the investment needed to continue supporting FTP, we have decided that we could not justify diverting further engineering resources away from building new features for all users. For that reason, we are announcing today that we will no longer support FTP publishing in Blogger after March 26, 2010. Blogger will try to ease the pain, somewhat. A migration tool will be available February 22, to automate the migration process. A dedicated blog will discuss what's happening. Blogger team members will...

This week, we have yet more reports of the chronically present old friend ConnectException: Connection timed out. for bloggers publishing by FTP. So far, the reports of this problem seem to be associated with server space provided by Aruba. If you are suffering from this problem, please provide diagnostic information: The blog BlogSpot URL (if applicable). When was the blog setup in Blogger? (If the blog was published immediately by FTP, say so). The blog domain URL. When was the blog setup for FTP publishing? The name of the server hosting company. The Blogger FTP server setting (name or IP address of the server), in use right now. What operating system, browser, and version of Java do you use? Where are you located, and what ISP do you connect through? If you have other blogs that are not having a problem publishing, the same information may be relevant too. Remember, we're looking for a solution for your problem, so be generous, and precise. >> Top

If you are still publishing your Blogger blog to an external, non Google server, using FTP , in spite of many recommendations , you are probably used to various advice, such as that which instructs you to contact the support staff for the host server , when problems are seen. Not everybody knows how to deal with server support personnel, though. The host server staff says they don't see any log errors. or I can update using FastFTP, with no problems. The problem must be with Blogger! These are common attitudes, which probably should be expected. Common or expected, they may not get your problem solved. The clues are in the server logs . What the host server support personnel see as "no log errors" may need to be interpreted properly. You pay them for service, so they work for you. FastFTP, and similar desktop clients, require a series of server profiles which you setup, by hand - one for each server. You have no problem with FastFTP because you configure FastFTP, spe...

This week, we are seeing more reports of people who can't post comments on blogs which have the Inline ("Embedded below post") comments form. Unlike a previous problem which involved CAPTCHA ("word verification") screening, the CAPTCHA form seems fine here. People who are not members of a blog, when preparing to comment, are allowed to select how they wish to authenticate, and be identified, subject to the options selected by the blog owner. Anonymously. Using a pseudonym / URL. Using An OpenID. Using a Google id. For some people, this pulldown list is empty. This appears to be yet another problem with a blocked script . One successfully diagnosed problem involved a Kaspersky product. The solution, in that case, was to whitelist "www.google.com/friendconnect". >> Top

In March 2009, Blogger changed its blog deletion procedure, to let you recover a mistakenly deleted blog on your own, and to make a blog's URL available when the blog is deleted. When you use the "Delete blog" wizard in Settings - Basic, a deleted blog goes into a "Deleted But Recoverable" status. The blog is immediately visible on your dashboard, possibly behind the "View all blogs" link, and is displayed with an "Undelete this blog" link. 90 days after you use "Delete blog", the blog is truly deleted, and the URL is made available to the public, on a "first come, first served" basis. However, this process applies only to deletions using "Delete blog". If you delete a Blogger or Google account, any blogs owned by that account are locked to that account. The URLs for those blogs will be permanently un available to the general public. If you want the blog URL to be immediately available to another individual Blo...

This blog is almost 4 years old - I started it in March 2006 . I review my visitor logs from time to time, and occasionally, I see hits against posts written in 2006. Sometimes, the logs show visits which start with posts written in 2006. Were I to stop posting today, it's possible that someone may be reading this post in 2014 - or later. That is one example why the Blogger policy Blogger accounts and Blog*Spot addresses do not expire. remains valid, even with some bloggers complaining about "expired" blogs.

Yesterday, in Blogger Help Forum: Something Is Broken , we were treated to the start of a wildfire, with many bloggers, quite suddenly, reporting Everything's been fine for months, but now I'm suddenly seeing "You're about to be redirected." and Help, I'm seeing "404 Server Not Found" again! The cause of the problem was subsequently traced to another hacking action on the Internet, where a Distributed Denial Of Service attack was aimed at eNom , one of the custom domain registrar partners with Google. Within that morning, eNom mitigated the problem , and the problem reports in Blogger Help Forum trickled to a halt. But the problem reports were only the primary result of the DDOS. We will, quite likely, see more results, in the weeks to come .

We see this question a lot, in Blogger Help Forum: How Do I? Hello! What's the address of my blog? and generally it motivates a simple answer . Can you view the blog online? If so, look in the browser address window. or Can you login to Blogger? Find the "View Blog" link. There are cases when the above advice, though technically correct, doesn't help answer the original question. If the blog was deleted or locked as spam (righteously or unrighteously) , it won't be online. The Asker of the question will be instructed to undergo the hated 4 step protocol . If the blog was published to a custom domain, the BlogSpot URL will be available in only one specific place. The Asker will be instructed to look at Settings - Publishing - "Advanced Settings" - " We won't leave your readers behind! " If the blog was deleted or locked, and it was published to a custom domain, only the lockedblogID will be available - and that will be only from the das...

For a long time, the natural way for finding multiple, random blogs was "Next Blog" surfing. After a while, spammers found out about this, and "Next\\\\Porn Blog" surfing became the norm. A couple months ago, Blogger developed a new "Next Blog" link which has turned out to be safer - and boring. Fortunately, "Next Blog" surfing isn't the only way to see what's out there in the Blogosphere.

There are many services available on the Internet, for creating and publishing a website. Blogger provides some services so transparently, that people get confused, occasionally, about what Blogger can reliably provide. Blogger provides some equivalents of some of the services available - with others, you may be on your own, or at the mercy of the support staff for other hosting services. Blog content created on Blogger, hosted on BlogSpot. Blog content created on Blogger, hosted outside BlogSpot. Blog content created outside Blogger, hosted on BlogSpot. Blog content created outside Blogger, hosted outside BlogSpot. Blog Content Created On Blogger, Hosted On Blogspot This is the most popular content / hosting option. Simply use "Create a blog", pick an available BlogSpot name, choose a template, and start posting. Blogger One Button Publishing is so easy to use, many bloggers have no idea how many services are involved , here. Blog Content Created On Blogger, Host...

Your blog depends upon traffic for its success. Anything that affects the traffic to your blog, such as any change in the URL , affects the success of your blog. Publishing the blog to a custom domain, like renaming the blog , will affect traffic to your blog . The effects of the change will vary from blog to blog, because of the different traffic to every different blog. Followers . People who find your blog because of recommendations by other people. Search engines . Robotic processes which methodically surf your blog, and provide dynamic indexing to people who search for information. Subscribers . People who read your content from their newsfeed reader, such as the dashboard Reading List. Viewers . People who read your content from their browser. No two blogs are the same - and no two blogs will have the same combinations of traffic sources .

This week, we are seeing a few reports from anxious bloggers that their blogs are redirecting to mysterious URLs containing the domain "smashingfeeds.com" . This is somewhat reminiscent of the "blogoholic.info" hijacks of June 2009 . My blog site has been hijacked & redirects to: http://searchinvented.com/?flrdr=yes&nxte=js&dn=smashingfeeds.com&fp=57S Immediate reports from some bloggers suggest that removal of a possibly recently installed "Tweet This" gadget may be the most likely solution, when faced with this problem. If you can access the "Page Elements" wizard , and if you have previously installed a "Tweet This" gadget on your blog, that's where you should start. Other blogs have the code installed directly into the template, and will have to use the "Edit HTML" wizard . As with the "blogoholic.info" redirect, this exploit has been seen to cause corruption of the blog or gadget template, ...